"Michael Jackson's dead," said a young, tall, blonde woman whilst talking excitedly with her friends in a tunnel at Bank station. This was the only phrase I caught.

Neither child nor adult, black nor white, man nor woman, guilty nor innocent. Michael Jackson was a blank canvass of a man. He tried to please everyone. As I sat on the underground last night watching the news spread like wildfire through the tunnels and carriages, it seemed that he really got close.

On the tube, two young men, one Black-American, one White-British were speaking animatedly.
"He died broke in the end ... Absolute legend ... Heart attack." 
"Excuse me, sorry, who's died?" I asked.
"Michael Jackson." The American replied.
"No way, I heard a girl saying it earlier, but I didn't believe it. When did it happen?"
"About an hour ago." 
"Everyone already knows."
"Yeah, my mate got it on his iPhone just before we left the pub," said the British man.
"It's already in the LA times," added the American man.
"I'm really sad, even if he was possibly a criminal," I said.
"Ah, that thing with the kids, it's just people chasing money. Money talks," said the American man

A thirty-something pale blonde woman, wearing pearl earings and work-dress, turned to the man to her side, a Mediterranean looking stranger, wearing a sharp grey suit and pink shirt.
She said: "Oh the poor man, only fifty. He never had a childhood, always pushed into the limelight, even when he was a boy. Such a shame.
The grey-suited man said: "Anyone in their twenties to thirties will be defined by this man."
They continued talking about him demonstrating great knowledge of his biography and discography.

Across the carriage was a light-skinned black-British boy in his early twenties. A black man with a shaved head looked earnestly out from his t-shirt. Dates commemorating his life; nineteen-sixty-something to nineteen-ninety-something were printed below. Next to him was a Nepali-looking girl with a British accent. The boy asked who had died and I explained.
"He was supposed to be playing the O2, wasn't he?" the boy said.
"Yeah, he was," I replied.
He and his date looked stunned for the rest of the journey.

As I got off the train I looked at my phone. An friend of mine had sent me a message: "Michael Jackson's dead."

Over There' in London: timely commentary on EU’s current political troubles

''Harry Treadaway (left) and Luke Treadaway (right) | (Image: ©Simon Annand/ Royal Court Theatre) ''

Mark Ravenhill’s unconventional play about identical twins who are reunited after growing up in east and west Germany travelled from London to Berlin this spring. Our London reviewer calls it a timely commentary on the EU’s current political troubles. Our Berlin reviewer wonders if the British director reproaches the Germans with the repression of history. Cross-reviews from the Royal Court and Schaubühne theatre

London review by Sara Mojtehedzadeh

Article and photos by Alexandra Cacciatore

2nd April 2009

It’s time for me to come clean in two ways. First, I have never been to a protest. For the past week and half, the media in London has been rabidly spinning the G20 summit. The casual observer might have noticed that the local press seemed to be giving more coverage to the protests and supposed violence surrounding the summit than to the actual events and issues. It’s only the leaders of the top twenty economies getting together to talk about why the world is falling to pieces, yet the media swirled itself around a few sound bites about “bankers being strung up”. Pssst, I think it was meant metaphorically.

Second confession: I am an American and as such, am used to a slightly fear mongering media. Fox News, anyone? Perhaps, my second confession also explains the first. In his documentary that looks at the American healthcare system/ fiasco, Michael Moore suggests that the reason Americans are less inclined to protest or strike has to do with the fact that we have fewer social safety nets to fall back upon. If an American’s participation in public demonstration were to result in no longer having a job, that individual would suffer heavy financial consequences such as the loss of their job-sponsored healthcare. In case you Euros didn’t know, nearly half of all bankruptcies in the US are the direct or indirect result of medical costs. Compound that with the fact the average household has $12,000 of credit card debt (not mortgage or education related, just credit cards) and you can why Joe American might be stars and stripes terrified of protesting their own government, let alone capitalism.

London, 3rd April 2009. After G20 leaders agreed a mind boggling trillion dollar plan to tackle the global financial crisis, Gordon Brown declared that the London summit marked “the day the world came together to fight back against the global recession”, and the beginning of a “new world order”. President Obama heralded it as “historic" and "unprecedented”. But, how momentous was the London summit yesterday?

Fun and games at the summit family photo (Photo: Richard Lewis, Newsteam.co.uk/London Summit Flickr stream)

Today, there was much messing about in boats on the river Thames in leafy green South West London. Earlier this afternoon, rowers from Britain's historic universities, Oxford and Cambridge, slugged it out in the 155th boat race. However, there was much other activity on, and by, the river throughout the day...

The new Cafe Babel London team recently held their first event, held jointly with the Grimshaw society.

Entitled European Defence Policy: Where next? Josh Arnold-Forster, former special adviser to John Reid at the Ministry of Defence, spoke to a packed room on his view of the European Defence Policy. The talk led to a lively discussion between all attending and was followed by a drinks reception at the LSE.

This is cafebabel london’s choice selection on what's happening in capital in the coming week (23-29 March).

By Naomi Christie
London, 9th March 2009

(Women marching the streets of London on 7 March 2009. Photo: Naomi Christie)

Women rallied in London last Saturday for an end to male violence.

The event, One Million Women Rise, did not achieve the high numbers it had forecast with stewards estimating a turnout of only 5,000 women and children.

A variety of women spoke out against domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape at the event, with speakers from the UK and support from organisations across the world.

A joint event between Cafe Babel London and the LSE Grimshaw Society.

The former Special Adviser to John Reid is coming to the LSE to talk about European Defence Policy.

Josh Arnold-Forster was special adviser to John Reid at the Ministry of Defence from 2005 to 2006. Josh has over seven years experience as a successful political consultant supporting major companies to win large and complex defence contracts. He is a government relations and public procurement specialist providing strategic counsel on issues ranging from the development of military requirements to trade union restructuring.Recently Josh has spent time in Afghanistan providing research and policy advice to a major inter-governmental organisation.

This is the first event of the new London team and we'd love you to come along. If you want to find out more please email us at london@cafebabel.com

Hope to see you there!

Update:
Time: 18h30
Venue: room 213, New Academic Building, London School of Economics (Sardina Street/Lincoln Inn's Field) Map